Etymology and origin of the Latin word dolo
dolo1 hew
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
- Inherited from
- Proto-Italic *dolaje-
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European (*dolh₁-ie/o-)
Pronunciation
Forms
dolō (present infinitive dolāre, perfect active dolāvī, supine dolātum); first conjugation[1] Varro has a participle dolītus.[2][3]
Etymology
The verb “to hew” is inherited from Proto-Italic *dolaje-, from Proto-Indo-European *dolh₁-ie/o- (“to cut repeatedly”) or *d(e)lh₁-ie/o- (“to cut”).[4] De Vaan notes that the Latin stem may continue either an e-grade or an o-grade, and that the noun dolābra (“pick”) suggests a primary verb rather than one made from a noun.[4] He compares Lithuanian dìlti (“to wear off, disappear”).[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan dates it from Plautus.[4] Cato says that the farmer will fell, hew and saw the timber, materiem succidet, dolabit, secabit.[2]
Semantic evolution
It means to hew or chop into shape with an axe:[2][3] Cicero has oak being hewn.[3] Horace uses it of beating a boatman's back with a cudgel.[2] Figuratively it means to fashion or devise.[1] Church Latin keeps the sense to hew with an axe.[5]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4][6]
- 234–149 BC – Cato, of hewing timber.[2][6]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero, of hewing oak.[3][6]
- 65–8 BC – Horace, of cudgelling.[2][6]
Meanings
Verb
Word family
- dolābra
- dolāmen
- dolātilis
- dolātōrium
- ēdolō
- dēdolō
dolo2 pike
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 116–27 BC, Varro
- Borrowed from
- Ancient Greek δόλων
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek (δόλων)
Pronunciation
Forms
dolō m (genitive dolōnis); third declension[1] The nominative is also dolōn.[3][7]
Etymology
The pike is borrowed from Ancient Greek δόλων (dólōn),[2][1][6] which Wiktionary derives from δόλος (dólos, “bait, trick”).[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler dates it from Varro,[6] who, as Servius reports, describes it as a huge pole with a very short iron point.[7][3]
Semantic evolution
It is a weapon with a wooden shaft and a short iron point:[2] Virgil has men carrying javelins and cruel dolōnēs into war,[2] and Silius uses it too.[3] A scholiast on Virgil calls it a sword with a very sharp, thin blade, and Suetonius uses it of a hidden dagger in a cane.[7][3] Livy uses it of a ship's topsail, raised to put out to sea.[2]
Timeline
- 116–27 BC – Varro, of a pole with an iron point.[7][6]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a weapon of war.[2][6]
- 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a topsail.[2][6]
- c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of a dagger hidden in a cane.[3][6]
Meanings
Noun
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Dolo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dolo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.
Last edited on . ·